Campus Carry Discussed at Texas State Public Forum

The Texas State Round Rock Campus met for the first time to openly discuss them implementation of the Campus Carry Law, which would allow students and faculty with permits to carry concealed weapons on campus.

A little over 20 students, faculty and administrators met in the Avery Building for 50 minutes to discuss draft implementation recommendations made by the Campus Carry Task Force, reported the Austin American-Statesman.

In June, the Texas State Legislature passed Senate Bill 11, also known as the Campus Carry Law, to be implemented by August 2016.

Vicki Brittain, special assistant to the president, outlined the task force’s recommendations and educated the attendees on Senate Bill 11. The bill, she said, requires the university president to meet with staff, faculty and students to discuss the nature of the student population, specific safety concerns and the unique campus environment, reported the Statesman. Brittian also said that the law prohibits the university president from barring licensed gun owners from carrying concealed handguns on the campus.

In the task force’s draft recommendations, five “gun free,” or ”carve-out,” zones are proposed. These zones include sporting events, child facilities, residence halls, health services and counseling facilities. The recommendations also state that the university would not have to offer gun storage.

The recommendations were met with mixed response from the people who attended the forum. It seemed like the students who spoke at the event were in favor of concealed carry on campus, such as Phil Burke, an applied arts and sciences senior, reported the Statesman.

“Somebody like myself can be prepared should that individual come in, I could neutralize the situation so we can all go home at night,” he told the Statesman. “At the end of the day, I’m a student here and I am learning, but I’d like to go home with all my fingers and toes just the way I walked in here.”

Staff and faculty believed that campus carry would jeopardize the campus as a place of learning, arguing that students should not have not worry about people with guns in their classes.

Sumit DasGupta, computer science lecturer at the Round Rock campus, was one of those faculty members.

“How do you ensure — now that people can walk in with a licensed gun — that it will not encourage those that are not even licensed to sneak in guns?” DasGupta said, according to the Satesman. “Can that bill be rolled back a little so that universities can be truly a place where people can learn without the threat of somebody pulling out a gun and blowing his brains out?”

Texas State will hold two more forums, both at the San Marcos campus, to discuss the implementation of Campus Carry on Nov. 17 and 18. After those forums, University President Denise Trauth will review the final recommendations in January.